Amos 3:6
Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?
Isaiah 45:6-7 states: “That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
Jeremiah 18:8: “If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.”
God’s governance is of a conditional nature, in that if men will repent, He will relent. God is patient because He does not want anyone to perish. That is the longsuffering nature of God.
Calvinist, J. Vernon McGee, comments: “This means, my friend, that there is no such thing as an accident in the life of a child of God. Therefore must be a cause for the effect. God is not moving this universe in a foolish, idle manner. Therefore, when calamity strikes, there is a lesson to be learned from it. ... Amos asks seven questions which illustrate that for every effect there is a cause and that the judgment of God which is coming is not accidental but is a result caused by the sin of the people.” (Thru the Bible: Proverbs Through Malachi, p.696, emphasis mine)
Dave Hunt explains: “God is warning Israel of His coming judgment upon their sin, and that is the context and subject. This Scripture has nothing to do with God causing moral evil. To do so would violate His holiness.” (Debating Calvinism, pp.312-313)
